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Playing Backed-up movies on PS3 via media server
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ktvan018
Newbie
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30. October 2008 @ 05:51 |
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Hello all, here's my issue. I've backed up several DVD movies to my PC using DVDFab decryptor. Most of which I've only backed up the main movie to limit space usage. When palying the files on my PC using power dvd or windvd the movie plays fine. I've set up my PC as a media server using SimpleCenter as the server program. When I try to play the movies on the PS3 I run into some issues.
First - A lot of the files from the backup show as unsupported data. (The files that do show up (labeled as VTS) show as MPEG-2 on the ps3)
Second - I can not play an entire movie and have to select a file. Play it until its end, then select another file and hope it's the next file of the movie.
Third - It seems that all of my movies I can not play the whole thing even when playing file by file. I believe that some of the unsupported data files are the rest of the movie.
My questions are:
1. is there a better way to save movies on my PC so I can watch an entire movie through the media server?
2. Is there another program I can use that will make this process more efficient?
3. Or do I have to convert my backed up files to a different format so the PS3 will recognize them.
Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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dan1677
Suspended due to non-functional email address
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30. October 2008 @ 06:53 |
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Hey there. I too use my PS3 as a media server. I convert my movies to DivX and have had pretty much no issues playing them. You get teh odd one that just won't play but most are okay. Most of my DivX mvie files are below 1gb as well so it saves space and the quality is pretty good. Search google for DivX converter. Hope it helps and good lucka nd happy streaming!
Dan
My rig: Intel Q9650 3.0Ghz, ATI Radeon 4870 X2 2048Mb, 6Mb DDR2 6400 RAM, Asus Rampage Formula X48 Motherboard.
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ktvan018
Newbie
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30. October 2008 @ 07:09 |
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Okay, so after I first posted this I did some more research and looking around online. I found that the basic version (free) of SimpleCenter does not have transcoding ability which is why so of my files were showing up as not supported. I switched to tversity (www.tversity.com) as my server and so far so good. The setup was fairly straight forward and easy. I went through and installed the codec part of the install which was not required, but figured it couldn't hurt. I haven't had much playing around on it yet, but I'll post more as I find it.
As I said I haven't had much playing on the new server program, but I did notice that my shared video files or movies are showing up on the PS3 individually in each movies folder. Not sure if I am going to have to play each one individually as before or if they will automatically open as the movie progresses? Again I'll post as I find out.
As always, any advice or assistance is appreciated.
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ktvan018
Newbie
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30. October 2008 @ 08:13 |
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Well for another update. Been playing around with this all night when I should have been in bed. Oh well, who needs sleep right.
I still have to select each movie's video file individually and they wont carry over to the next one to continue play of the movie as it does if watching on the PC from powerdvd or windvd. Not sure if it's the way I have the files saved or the way I rip them from the DVD or if it's just not possible. Another thing I've found is that if I open the movies menu screen file I can not select play movie or anything for that matter.
Anyone have any idea's on how to get the movies to play completely rather than having to select it part by part.
Thanks for your help,
Kyle
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KajNrig
Senior Member
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30. October 2008 @ 10:22 |
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I can't be sure, but I believe the reason for that is because you're trying to play the .vob video files from within the VIDEO_TS folder, correct?
All of those are simply (as far as I remember from my brief time with ripping/creating DVDs) videos for different parts of the DVD.
Each movie (be it a DVD menu, a trailer, the movie itself, an extra, etc.) has its own .vob file, and all that is is just... well, a movie file. That might be the reason why you can't go to the main menu or anything and actually move around. I don't know much about DVDfab, but on the little summary page of it, the only thing I saw was that it ripped the entire DVD. I dunno of any program that can actively find out which .vob is the movie .vob. (Then again, I'm not very well-versed in the DVD thing.)
Additionally, it may be that the DVD image you burned was a dual-layer DVD, which would likely be the reason why you have more than one .vob file for the movie. Tell me, how long do the movie .vobs (the ones that actually contains the movie) last?
...but yeah, I agree with dan1677 that probably the most efficient way of streaming the videos is to create one entire .avi or AVC/h264 from the movie (and leave out the menus, extras, etc.).
The most recent firmware update allows the PS3 to play consecutive movie files, but I'm not sure if it's limited to ones on its hard drive, or if it can also do the same for files received from a media server.
Or, actually, you can just pop the DVD into the PS3. Just sayin'.
Anyway, this guide might help you if you decide to go the DVD to .avi route.
Maybe you could ask in one of the DVD forums, too, because that seems to be the biggest issue here - not necessarily the PS3.
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ktvan018
Newbie
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30. October 2008 @ 18:28 |
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KajNriG,
Thanks for that info. I'll give the .avi route a try. One question though, Dan mentioned that most of his files are less than a gig in size. When I burn the movie with DVD fab it basically makes an exact copy so if you wanted you can burn another disc to play on any DVD player. Each movie is anywhere from 5-7gig. Will converting my movie to .avi reduce the files sizes and storage space needed and will it keep the same quality or will it be decreased? If I can keep quality and shrink HD space already sounds like a plus.
Thanks
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KajNrig
Senior Member
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30. October 2008 @ 19:10 |
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Of course you can burn it onto another DVD. What you said isn't "basically" correct - it's completely correct. :)
Anyway, there's always going to be SOME loss of quality when going from one format to another; I don't know the basics, but it more or less depends on what encoder you're using and what settings you've got for it.
By encoder I mean codecs like DivX, Xvid, etc.
...and actually, if you're going to play the file on your PS3, I'd suggest just going with the x264 encoder. It's much better than either DivX or Xvid.
So to answer your question: With the x264 encoder (which is meant to handle HD content), you will lose almost no quality, and the filesize will be dramatically reduced... depending on your settings.
If you're planning on going that route, I suggest using Avisynth + MeGUI... or some say that FairUseWizard is fairly good, too, but I believe you have to purchase it. Also, this website says that AutoMKV is good, too.
I dunno how exactly to go about it, though. You could try asking in this forum, as well. The folks there know more about converting video than I do.
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unRheal
Newbie
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2. December 2008 @ 22:58 |
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Originally posted by KajNrig:
Of course you can burn it onto another DVD. What you said isn't "basically" correct - it's completely correct. :)
Well.. except for the copy that DVDFab makes is no longer encrypted... but otherwise, ya. ;)
Quote:
Anyway, there's always going to be SOME loss of quality when going from one format to another; I don't know the basics, but it more or less depends on what encoder you're using and what settings you've got for it.
It sounds like you *do* know the basics ;) There will be some loss of quality if you recompress it with a lossy codec - which you will almost certainly do.. but as you say - a decent codec (& settings) will give you very good quality at a fraction of the size... quality you'll probably have trouble seeing the difference from the original DVD. (again with a decent codec and *good* settings)
ktvan018: Thanks for posting updates and stuff... What you want(ed) to do sounds like what I have in mind. Originally, to be able to just play the ripped DVD's on the PS3 via a media server. Barring that (and it's starting to sound like there's no real easy way to simply just do that) then convert to another format with max. quality and minimum size (but max quality being the priority - for me at least)
If you were able to get the PS3 to play an individual VOB file, then in theory, it might be possible to simply rip the main movie to a single VOB - or just convert it to a single VOB after you rip it.. You could use something like DVD Decrypter, which will let you copy it to a VOB/VOBs with size of your choice.
DVD Decrypter is kinda old, so it fails on actually ripping a lot of new stuff, but once it's ripped to a folder on your HD, then you could use DVD Decrypter to simply copy it and make the target a single VOB.
DVDFab may be able to do this too, I don't know - I'm not very familiar with it.
Re: your message on Oct 30th @ 7:13 - the PS3 won't see the movie folder as a DVD, so it won't try to play it like one (like Windows Media Player will if you click on the right file in a VIDEO_TS folder) and will simply try to play the files that it can... but since VOBs have multiple streams of audio and video, and really should be read with the info from the .IFO as per DVD standards, etc.. that's most likely why you're having trouble (as I have with initial attempts) and definitely why the menu won't work (the PS3 just doesn't know that it's a DVD format and is only looking for plain video files)
I'll probably try out the h264 as suggested by KajNrig, as I've heard good things about it elsewhere as well. (and have been testing different software/codecs converting videos for my PSP as well) but...
If you come up with something that's reasonably simple, very good quality, and hopefully doesn't take 12 hours to convert... please do post more updates.
One other program that's interesting is DVD Shrink - it can shrink a DVD (go figger!) in size while maintaining quite decent quality and does it extremely fast. (relative to old conversions and even still most decent quality conversions where one decodes and re-codes - from MPEG-2 to XviD for example)
I mention it because it is so fast - you/I might be able to do something like rip the DVD to the HD, converting to a single VOB (either at the same time or after with DVD Decrypter) and then possibly resize it to maybe 1/4 the size with DVD Shrink (If it can handle a single 6GB VOB file, never tried) and then maybe it's playable with the PS3 like that..
There are certainly many options and tons of software - so hopefully there's some relatively quick and painless way without sacrificing any significant quality along the way.
KajNrig: and Re: your comment "... just pop the DVD into the PS3." - ya, that's an option at the time you're holding the dvd in your hand and you're near the PS3 and you want to watch it now, before playing any games on your PS3, etc.. The thing is, that if you want to have a number of movies/DVD's available for instant play as desired.. as in, your video library at your fingertips.. then you need to set up something like this.
Flipping DVD's/CD's, etc.. is reminiscent of swapping in and out the old 5-1/4" floppies... and then hard drives came along, and the nice convenience.. ;) As with my games, where I'll invariably try to find a NODVD exe, to save the hassle of fiddling with the discs.. I just want convenience! :)
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ktvan018
Newbie
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16. December 2008 @ 13:28 |
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Thanks for the updates. Unfortunately, I just haven't had the time to really dig into this lately to try any new stuff out. If file size is not an issue, I believe that just copying the DVD with DVDFab will probably be the most simple way to do this as long as you select to copy to a single VOB file. I have found that some of the movies I have previously copied with multiple VOB's, will not completely play on the PS3. Some vob's work and others will not. Still I have not had a chance to test this and will update when I can. This time of year is extrememly busy for work and has taken most of my free time away. Thanks again
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